Monday, March 21, 2011

A Single Serving Of Spring Outerwear

Since spring is, well, spring you're not going to need too many pieces of outerwear. In fact, if you play your cards right you can pretty much get by with just one. You may already have this one perfect piece of spring outerwear, but if you don't I'd like to make a case in favor of the Barbour Liddesdale. This lightweight yet warm jacket can take a beating and holds up great in any spring weather short of a monsoon. Style wise it's pretty much as on point as anything Barbour designs. There is a corduroy collar, snap closure side vents (most commonly seen on Barbour's Bedale model) and comes in a ton of colors. You can grab something subtle in a neutral color (i.e. olive or navy) or go bold in some of the bright options for S/S 2011 (i.e. orange, red, royal blue). Now, on to fit. Most people I know, and myself included, have sized down. I pretty much wear a medium in everything and a size small Liddesdale fits me perfectly. It's easy to layer over or under my tailored clothing and other casual jackets I have for spring. For example, this weekend I threw it over an old Engineered Garments field jacket. The Liddesdale also features something so many other jackets fail to capitalize on - trim sleeves. Overall, you're getting a ridiculously versatile jacket that is going to be your go to all season long for, at most, $150. In my mind, it's the perfect single serving of spring outerwear anyone could ask for.

19 comments:

This looks great & seems like a great addition. Trim sleeves is a huge selling point for me, considering thats the majority of my fit issues. I'll definitely be on the look out for one of these in Kansas City to try on. Lord knows, it will be impossible to find in the Midwest.

I like the Eskdale which is a bit longer (think Bedale vs. Beaufort) but the woman who runs the Newbury Barbour shop told me they discontinued it. It's still on the Country Attire website though. I wish they'd do a grey flannel like Patrick Grant's Lavenham in the Esquire videos.

Belstaff makes a motorcycle warming jacket that is similar. It's a bit trimmer and snaps into some of their coats. I used it to winter-proof some of my lighter fall jackets. As far as spring goes, it's a bit hot for certain days, so keep that in mind if you are thinking of the Barbour option.

I recently bought one of these and it's one of the most useful jackets I own. Throw it on over a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans when it's a little brisk in the evening, or wear it over a dress shirt & sweater for a nicer night out when it's cold. Some really bitter people commenting on here...it's just a jacket, I didn't realize you had to be a British lord or a landowner/horse trainer to wear one.

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